Originally the name for an island. From the Swedish name Houtskär, itself from hout- + skär as a partial calque of an older Finnish name, either *Hautasaari or *Hautasalo, from hauta(“trench, pit, grave”) + saari/salo(“island”).[1]
The internal locative cases (inessive, illative and elative) are used with this place name when referring to a location; for example, "in Houtskari" is Houtskarissa.
^ Sirkka Paikkala, editor (2007), Suomalainen paikannimikirja [Book of Finnish Place names] (in Finnish), Helsinki: Karttakeskus, Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus, →ISBN